US Navy to evacuate 5,000 from Key West as Hurricane Irma approaches

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The US military has ordered the evacuation of over five thousand personnel from a Naval Air Station in Florida in preparation for Hurricane Irma – a hurricane which was upgraded to a powerful Category 5 storm, the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic, CNN reports.

Currently, it is threatening to slam into Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with "potentially catastrophic" force on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The military is braced for it to hit the US mainland and the current forecast suggests it could strike Florida over the weekend.

More than 5,000 military active duty, civilians, contractors and families basedat Naval Air Station Key West have received mandatory evacuation orders